Spain: Controversy over Palestinian plane hijacker's appearance in Spain

Benjamin Weinthal on Twitter (12 May): 

If you are American or Israeli, it is not a good weekend to visit Barcelona. @SpainMFA welcomes PFLP terrorist.

Fathom this. Spain's @SpainMFA allowed PFLP terrorist into country for talk.She hijacked US plane.

PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled in Spain below. She hijacked US/Israeli planes @SpainMFA @catalangov allowed her to visit.

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal, 11 May):

Graffiti depicting the PFPL plane hijacker Leila Khaled on the security barrier near Bethlehem.

The Spanish government – and the city of Barcelona – are under fire for failing to thwart plans for PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled to speak at a radical book festival that starts in Spain on Friday. 

Israel’s Ambassador to Spain Daniel Kutner told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday: “I hope the former airplane hijacker will not be allowed to set foot in Europe in general, and in Spain in particular. I raised the subject of her scheduled participation in an event in a city-managed venue with the higher authorities at Barcelona, conveying our position on the subject.”

The Jordanian-based Khaled is a convicted terrorist and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which has been designated by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization. She hijacked TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and a year later participated in the hijacking of EL AL Flight 219 as a member of Black September, the organization responsible for the massacre of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Fadi Hassan, president of the Basque Country Palestinian Community, wrote a letter reminding the Barcelona Council that Khaled is a terrorist. Hassan said he believes Khaled does not represents Palestinian women or the Palestinian people. The invitation blocks peace, he added, urging the council to pull the plug on its support of Khaled. (...) 

Angel Mas, an expert in Spanish-Israel relations from the pro-Israel Spanish group ACOM, told the Post: “The presence of terrorists such as Leila Khaled in Spain, a glorifier of violence and an active member of the PFLP – an outlawed organization in Europe – is an outrage. We call on the Spanish authorities to ban her insulting presence in our country, using the powers granted to our security forces and our courts.” 

Mas added: “The fact that this terrorist was invited as a star guest to an event supported and sponsored by the Barcelona City Council demonstrates the dangerous drift of that city towards becoming a very hostile territory for Jews and Israelis. And the fact that Khaled’s visit and events in Spain are supported by the BDS [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel] groups in the country is yet another proof of those groups close connections with international terrorism. These BDS gangs, disguised as NGOs, operate thanks to the millions in public subsidies provided by national and local authorities in Spain. The government of Spain must take immediate action to cease and penalize these behaviors.” 

Khaled advocates BDS, as well as the use of violence against Israel and Israelis. 

Ignacio-Wenley Palacios Iglesias, the lawyer for the Spanish office of the Lawfare Project, told the Post, “After the protests raised by Khaled’s visit, the government of the City Council of Barcelona – ruled by a coalition of Left and radical Left councilors – has attempted to put some distance from Khaled’s presentation at this self-described ‘radical book fair.’ This simply will not fly: Khaled’s visit is the central event of this book fair.” 

Iglesias said the Barcelona governmental agencies involved “have very explicit duties of avoiding using public funds in projects or events intermingled with members of a terrorist group... The Lawfare Project has made sure that every relevant agency in Spain is aware that these records and accounts need to be monitored, audited, and in my opinion, frozen.” 

The Barcelona City Council has provided a link to the Festival Literal and Khaled talk on its website.

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Europe: Huge success for terrorist Leila Khaled at European Parliament

Unsurprisingly not many of the 751 European MPs objected to the hosting of a terrorist at the European Parliament.  No European newspapers, no Human Rights NGOs, no politicians had anything to say about the event.  As I wrote before, this is the perfect illustration of how European MPs spend their time and taxpayers' money.  They then complain that populists are becoming more and more popular...

Standing ovation for Leila Khaled at the European Parliament in Brussels.  They were having a very good time.

Via CNS News (Patrick Goodenough):

Half a Century Ago Leila Khaled Hijacked Two Aircraft in Europe. This Week She Was Guest at European Parliament

A woman who hijacked two aircraft in Europe of behalf of a Palestinian terrorist group almost half a century ago was feted as an invited guest at a European Parliament event on Tuesday evening, despite the fact her group is on the European Union’s terrorist list. 

Leila Khaled, a member of the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), took part in an event in Brussels entitled “The Role of Women in the Palestinian Popular Resistance,” organized by a left-wing parliamentary group. 

The poster advertising the event and naming the three speakers identifies her affiliation: “Leila Khaled – Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.” 

Just early last month [1], E.U. ministers decided to keep the PFLP on the union’s list of designated terrorist organization. The PFLP has been on the list –  now comprising 21 groups – since June 2002. 

Tuesday’s event was organized by members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from a far-left Spanish party, Izquierda Unida, which is part of the “European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group at the European Parliament.
Martina Anderson, an MEP from Ireland’s Sinn Fein – also a member of the GUE/NGL group – tweeted a photo of herself with “legendary Palestinian revolutionary Leila Khaled” at the event 

“Fantastic Turnout in Brussels 4 Women in Palestinian Struggle Leila Khaled addressing a packed room – long live international solidarity,” Anderson tweeted.
A spokeswoman for Israel’s mission to the E.U., Michal Weiler-Tal, said meetings of this nature should not be allowed in an institution “which promotes democracy and Western values.” 

“It is difficult to understand that a political group in the European Parliament, legitimizes and provides a platform for a convicted terrorist who hijacked American and Israeli airliners, to spread incitement and promote hatred and violence,” she said. 

“Moreover, hosting such an infamous figure belonging to the PFLP – which E.U. law designates as a terrorist organization – is not only against our moral standards but also sabotages the efforts to fight terrorism,” Weiler-Tal added. “IThis is a terrible message to the Israeli public and goes against the values that Israel and Europe share.” 

Earlier on Tuesday, the American Jewish Committee’s Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute called on the parliament’s president to prevent Khaled’s entry. 

“It would be a sad irony if parliament, only days after crucially setting up a special committee on terrorism, were to welcome and lionize as a ‘resistance fighter’ a convicted terrorist who was captured in 1970 while hijacking a commercial airplane,” said the institute’s director, Daniel Schwammenthal.

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In February 2016:

Samidoun continued its meetings at the European Parliament and events with Leila Khaled, Palestinian historic resistance figure and political leader, visiting Brussels following a speech in Utrecht at the New World Summit. Representatives of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine joined Khaled for meetings with Cypriot MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis, vice-chair of the Green United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) bloc in the Parliament, and Greek MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis, vice-president of the European Parliament on 9 and 10 February.

Related - Standing ovation for Mahmoud Abbas at the European Parliament in 2016:

Among those rewarding Abbas with a standing ovation: Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, Federica Mogherini, the EU Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs, and Guy Verhofstadt , former Belgian PM and currently a MEP. (2016)

- The European Parliament rewards hate

- Europe: MEPs give standing ovation to blood libel

Europe: Why did the European Parliament embrace a Palestinian terrorist who trivializes the Holocaust?

Via The Algemeiner (Daniel S. Mariaschin):

If there was ever a reminder that Europe is losing its way, the appearance this week at the European Parliament by convicted Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled is surely it.

Khaled, a major operative in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was involved in a wave of hijackings of commercial airliners in 1969 and 1970, most notably a TWA flight from Rome to Athens and Tel Aviv, and an El Al flight from Amsterdam to New York City.

The PFLP, headed by George Habash, helped to invent modern terror. Its curriculum vitae is filled with enough hijackings, bombings (suicide and otherwise), drive-by shootings and kidnappings to fill a good-sized bookshelf. It has partnered with like-minded organizations, such as the Japanese Red Army and Colombia’s guerrilla army FARC, and though Marxist in orientation, the group has enjoyed a relationship with terrorism’s biggest backer today — theocratic Iran. The PFLP’s targets have invariably been civilians: in 2014, for example, its operatives attacked worshippers with axes and knives at a Jerusalem synagogue, killing four and wounding seven.

The PFLP has been on the European Union’s terrorism list since 2012 (decades after the organization came into existence). And yet, Khaled was a featured speaker this week on a program at the European Parliament, titled, “The Role of Women in the Palestinian Popular Resistance.” Khaled received a two-minute standing ovation, preceded by this introduction: “We…have a living legend here with us today, who we can call the Che Guevara of Palestine, Leila Khaled.” The Venezuelan ambassador, who was also present, was introduced as an “honored guest.”

Khaled’s speech was not about empowerment and opportunity. Instead, it was a nonstop screed filled with time-tested Palestinian canards about Zionism — and about Jews.

“The Holocaust,” she said, “is only pain to the Jews. They have monopolized the pain and have played the role of the victims. … [D]on’t you think that what happened in Auschwitz is comparable to what happens in Gaza today?”

The Zionist movement, she stated, “aligns with all the capitalists in the world,” and she added that “in the next 100 years, they [the Zionists] will be able to dominate the world economy.” (...)

The Khaled event at the European Parliament was not something hidden or unknown to those who peruse the international body’s weekly calendar. Someone made a decision to approve its being placed on the schedule. (...)

Yet with so many EU heads of government, foreign ministers and other officials proffering comments about the need to defeat the growing threat of terrorism on the continent, where are those voices expressing outrage over the invitation to a convicted terrorist — who remains a “member of the political bureau” of one of the deadliest of terror organizations — to speak at one of the EU’s central institutions

In trying to explain this, words like “hypocrisy” and “indifference” come to mind, along with simple political correctness. But it is more than that: Haven’t those in leadership positions in Brussels learned anything from decades of violence espoused by Khaled, her contemporaries and now, by Hezbollah, Hamas and ISIS? If nothing else, have they no self-respect?

The recent list of terrorist attacks in Europe is long, and growing. At the EU, some may have short memories, but surely the families of victims in Paris, Nice, London, Brussels, Copenhagen and so many other places, do not.

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Related:
Leila Khaled, a member of a terrorist group blacklisted by the EU, speaks in the European Parliament where she glorifies terrorism and trivializes the Holocaust

Spain: Terrorism charges filed with Court over Palestinian hijacker

Related:
Europe: Huge success for terrorist Leila Khaled at European Parliament

Via The Algemeiner:

The Lawfare Project, a nonprofit legal-focused think tank, recently submitted a criminal complaint to the National Court of Spain, accusing convicted hijacker Leila Khaled, a member of the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), of “public exaltation” of terrorism and financing terrorism. 

The complaint was submitted in collaboration with the Jewish community of Ibiza, Spain. It details how Khaled used her position in the PFLP to “trivialize the Holocaust, compare Israel to Nazi Germany and advocate for indiscriminate violence against civilians,” the group said in a statement. Additionally, The Lawfare Project has applied for a European warrant for the arrest of Khaled and for her inclusion in the European Union (EU) and Interpol criminal databases. 

Khaled, 73, participated in two hijackings; one in 1969 of a TWA flight and the other in 1970 of an El Al plane. 

Recently, she was permitted to address the European Parliament at an event called “The role of women in the Palestinian resistance.” The Lawfare Project asserts that Khaled used that platform to “praise extremist violence and demonize Jews.” 

“Seeing an infamous terrorist leader welcomed at universities, municipal halls, and even the European Parliament, all while praising violence against civilians, is both despicable and unacceptable,” said Ignacio Wenley Palacios, The Lawfare Project attorney who filed the charges. “Public exaltation and defense of terrorist acts is a serious crime in our country, and we are determined to advance criminal charges on behalf of the victims who are unable to defend themselves.”

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Hungary demands resignation of EU Commissioner for calling Prime Minister Orban an antisemite

Interesting that EU Commissioner Timmermans is so critical of Hungary, when the European institutions welcome terrorist Leila Khaled.  Via Against Antisemitism:

Papadimoulis with Khaled on February 10, 2016   Khaled poses in scarf with the PFLP logo: Inside a red circle, a black arrow points from a white semi-circle to a map of Israel and the territories. Below the arrow, on the right side, is a green dot. The arrow symbolizes the return of Palestinian refugees. Red symbolizes the group’s Marxist-Leninist heritage. Description via http://archive.adl.org/terrorism/symbols/popular_front_pa1.html

Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled met with Dimitris Papadimoulis, Syriza MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, in its headquarters in Brussels on February 10, 2016. Leila Khaled was accompanied by a PFLP delegation. Syriza, a left-wing party that despite its past support for the Palestinians has sought to strengthen ties with the Jewish state, has called Khaled in a statement issued after the meeting an “activist with a historical role in the Palestinian Resistance.” read more.

Via EJC:

Hungary on Friday demanded the resignation of the Senior Vice President of the  European Commission Frans Timmermans after the latter called Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban an antisemite for his attacks on the Jewish philanthropist George Soros. 

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjarto called the remarks by Timmermans in an interview with the German weekly Die Zeit “unfair and unacceptable”, noting that Hungary had “a policy of zero tolerance towards antisemitism.” 

Timmermans was referring in particular to the government’s decision to force the closure of the Central European University in Budapest, which is funded by Soros. 

Orban has called Soros "an American financial speculator attacking Hungary”. 

Asked by Die Zeit about the decision, Timmermans noted “clearly antisemitic accents”.

Italy bars Palestinian terrorist and BDS advocate Leila Khaled

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Convicted Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled was barred from entering Italy on Wednesday on the grounds that she lacked a valid visa.

Olga Deutsch, Europe Desk director at the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday: "We applaud Italy's decision to deny entry to infamous terrorist Leila Khaled at Rome's Fiumicino Airport, the same place from which she once hijacked an airliner.  As a research institute, NGO Monitor documented Khaled's September 2017 speech at the European Parliament and alerted senior EU officials. We have long warned European governments that they have been funding radical, politicized NGOs, including those linked to the PFLP terror group and which were involved with Khaled's event."

She added, "We hope that Italy's move, coming on the heels of European Parliament President Tajani's decision to bar terror-linked individuals and organizations from EU premises, signals a new awareness among European leadership, and that it leads European Institutions and governments to reexamine policies that fund such NGOs".

Khaled, a member of the US- and EU-designated terrorist entity Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has conducted speaking tours across Europe over the years to promote the abolition of Israel and the spread of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

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Greece: Vice-President of the EU Parliament meets with Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled, praises her "historical role in the Palestinian Resistance"

Her 'historical role' consisted of being the first woman to hijack an airplane.

Via Against Antisemitism:

Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled met with Dimitris Papadimoulis, Syriza MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, in its headquarters in Brussels on February 10, 2016. Leila Khaled was accompanied by a PFLP delegation. Syriza, a left-wing party that despite its past support for the Palestinians has sought to strengthen ties with the Jewish state, has called Khaled in a statement issued after the meeting an “activist with a historical role in the Palestinian Resistance.”

Khaled is member the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist and nationalist organization founded in 1967. PFLP is considered as a terrorist organization by the Council of the European Union, since its members have carried out numerous hijackings, assassinations, bombings and paramilitary operations against civilian and military targets in Israel. Khaled herself has been involved twice in airline hijackings and is an active supporter of the BDS movement.

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No more access to the European Parliament for terrorists like Leila Khaled

Background:
Europe: Huge success for terrorist Leila Khaled at European Parliament

Via European Jewish Press:

"My complaint to the President was successful. The European Parliament is now not allowing access to people or groups, who have been involved in terrorist acts. Happy we have established what should have been obvious before!"

The European parliament has endorsed a proposal of its president, Antonio Tajani, to systematically deny access to all persons, groups, or entities involved in terrorist acts.

The decision followed a complaint by several MEPs after Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled, a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was invited last September to speak in the European Parliament at a conference hosted by two Spanish far-left MEPs. She used that platform to praise extremist violence and demonize Jews.  She glorified terrorism and trivialized the Holocaust.  "Don’t you see a similarity between Nazi actions and Zionist actions in Gaza?," she declared. "While the Nazis were tried in Nuremberg, no one has ever tried the Zionists," she said.

"The European Parliament’s Bureau unanimously endorsed the President’s proposal to systematically deny access to all persons, groups, or entities involved in terrorist acts, as listed in the annexed Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/1426,"  the parliament's Directorate General for Security and Safety said in an information notice.

"In view of that decision, and in the context of combatting terrorism, Members of the European Parliament and Political Groups are requested not to invite persons listed in the Council Decision or individuals representing entities or groups on that list, nor to facilitate their access to Parliament. In addition, these persons, entities, and groups may not be promoted through audio-visual presentations or other events on Parliament’s premises."

"I am happy that we have eventually established what should have been obvious before!" commented Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský (European People's Party, EPP) who was the initiator of the complaints to President Tajani.

''The Council may adopt some amendments now, so we can be sure the situation with Leila Khaled will not happen again," Zdechovský added.

Two other complaining MEPs, Danish Anders Vistisen and Dutch Bastiaan Belder, from the European Conservative and Reformist group (ECR),  thanked and congratulated President Tajani "for his resolute stance against terror."

"Pleased to see that our concerns and that of 57 other MEPs [out of 751] on the presence of terrorist Leila Khaled in the EP were addressed," they tweeted.

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Europe: Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky: MEPs who invited Leila Khaled must be sanctioned

Related:
Europe: Huge success for terrorist Leila Khaled at the European Parliament

Via European Jewish Press:

Tomas Zedchovsky, a Czech Member of the European Parliament from the European People’s Party (EPP), was the first to be alerted by the presence of a terrorist in the building of the parliament in Brussels. He called on European Parliament President  Antonio Tajani  to investigate whether the EU’s anti-terror rules had been breached by the two Spanish MEPs from the European United Left group who invited Leila Khaled.

"Not only did she (Khaled) hijack airplanes from European cities, but she never faced justice. This terrorist only walks free here because other terrorists hijacked even more Europeans in exchange for her release,"  he noted.

"President Tajani, who was very surprised when he learned of the presence of Leila Khaled (it was not announced until the last minute), promised us that this will quickly be investigated," Zdechovsky told European Jewish Press in an interview.

According to the Czech MEP, President Tajani can impose various sanctions on the two Spanish MEPs, even a suspension. ''We must avoid this will happen again,'' he said.

"I am a peaceful person and I support every time a peaceful solution between Israel and Palestinians. But we cannot give a democratic word in the European parliament to such people who have been fighting with guns against democracy. I will never bring here to the European Parliament radical people, like the PKK or any Palestinian terror group," he said.

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UK: Marxists, Christians and Muslims support terrorism against Jews

Via Gatestone Institute:

In Britain, it is not the equivocal response of Fatah that draws sympathy from various political and religious groups, but the forthright violence of Hamas and the PFLP.

On September 28, a British Marxist group, the "Tricontinental Anti-Imperialist Platform," organized in central London an event entitled, "Gaza and the Palestinian Revolution," featuring, as its main speaker, Leila Khaled.

In 1969 and 1970, Leila Khaled, armed with several hand grenades, hijacked two planes. She was released by the British government as part of a hostage exchange deal. Today, Khaled is still a member of the PFLP's central committee.

In 2012, Khaled spoke at University College London, as part of the annual Marxism Festival, an event organized to celebrate "resistance" to "imperialism."

Not all support for the PFLP, however, is confined to the extremes. Christian Aid, one of the UK's largest charities, funds and supports Palestinian NGOs openly managed by PFLP operatives.

British groups and individuals who support Hamas are even more extreme. An official of the Project for Peace and Development in Palestine (PPDP), a group founded in Britain and a key partner of the British charity Interpal, recently rejoiced over the recent murders in Jerusalem. In response to the synagogue killings, Ahmed Brahimi wrote: "God is most great... God be praised for the martyrdom operation in Jerusalem and news of the state of the killed and injured... God is Most Great and God be praised."

Ireland: Leila Khaled, a convicted plane hijacker, to speak at a teachers’ club in Dublin

Via The Times of Israel:

Israel has lodged an official protest to Ireland over the invitation of Leila Khaled, a convicted Palestinian plane hijacker who has continued to advocate violence against Israelis, to speak at a teachers’ club in Dublin belonging to the Irish National Teachers’ Organization.  

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan sent the protest letter to Dublin’s education minister, Richard Bruton, demanding that he cancel Khaled’s appearance, Hadashot TV reported Thursday. Khaled is scheduled to speak via video link in a public talk hosted at the club by the socialist groups Anti Imperialist Action Ireland and Lasair Dhearg.  

“It is hard to understand why Ireland, which has also experienced many terror attacks, would agree to honor a terrorist at an educational event, who expresses solidarity with terror attacks and views them as a legitimate tool,” Erdan wrote.

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Austria: Pro-Palestinian groups encourage militant Anti- Zionism

This is how European governments fight antisemitism.  The Dutch gave Leila Khaled a visa, the Austrians cannot seem to find it within themselves to condemn her incitement against Jews.  See also: Palestinian terrorist who says ISIS is a Zionist organiation invited to lecture in Vienna

Guest post by Austrian Antifascist:

On 15th April PFLP hero Leila Khaled is invited to Vienna/Austria by the Austrian-Arabic Culture Center and Handala Palestinian Culture Forum to make the case for militant Anti-Zionism and PFLP. Khaled was famous for her role in PFLP airplane-hijackings in 1969/70. The hijackings by PFLP were an early stage of a wave of bloody terror attacks perpetrated by the Palestinian Black September terrorist organisation.

After a string of suicide attacks from 2002 – 2004 killing Israeli civilians, PFLP terrorism declined in the following years, but the organisation kept spreading its fascist mentality and irrational hatred of Israelis. The nature of PFLP was once again exposed in November 2014, when PFLP-member Ghassan Abu Jaml and Uday Abu Jaml attacked a Synagogue in Jerusalem in the morning, massacring early prayers with meat cleavers and guns. 4 civilians and one policeman were killed and several injured. Though the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades, the armed wing of PFLP, withdrew their initial claim of responsibility, PFLP praised the attack as „heroic action“ and went on promoting the attackers as PFLP-martyrs. Another bizarre manifestation of PFLPs approval of butchering Israeli civilians was the emergence of militants posing with axes and meat cleavers at PFLP rallies.

Despite all known facts Austria is fine with Anti-Zionists promoting a lunatic terrorist organisation among Arabs in Vienna. Aside of right-wing demagogues not a single institution or official spoke out against the event. The Austrian Arabic Culture Center describes itself as working in the field of cultural exchange between Arabs and Austrian society.

 (all images from official PFLP-sites and PFLP support sites)

Germany: Palestinian Land Day celebration event features antisemitic hate-mongers

Via Ruhrbarone, Against Antisemitism:

Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled will speak tomorrow (Saturday) in Taverne Zorbas, a Greek restaurant in Wuppertal.

The event, part of the local Palestinian "Land Day" events, was originally planned for an indoor playground, but had to be moved after Khaled's presence was publicized.

Besides Khaled, Abdel Bari Atwan of the UK will also be an honored guest.  Atwan has justified terror attacks against Jews in Israel, and has said that "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight."  Last year he said that "Arabs who do not think that Israel is an enemy are neither Arabs nor Muslims."

Austria: Palestinian terrorist who says ISIS is a Zionist organiation invited to lecture in Vienna

Khaled is spreading hate and incitement against Jews all over the world. Now she's coming to Vienna with help of the Dutch government.

She recently said: "ISIS, I tell you, is a Zionist, American organization. Boko Haram is another Netanyahu. [Its leaders] are more Zionist than the Zionists… Beware the imperialists. They are vicious and they are collaborating with the Zionists to control the whole world…."

Via Watch: Antisemitism in Europe:

Upon the invitation of the "österreichisch-arabisches Kulturzentrum" (Austrian-Arabic culture center) Top member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Leila Khaled, is going to give a lecture in ‪Vienna‬. The PFLP is described as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union. Nevertheless Dutch authorities gave her the essential entrance visa to the Schengen Area. 

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European Parliament hosting Palestinian terrorists

This is an example of how European MPs spend their time and taxpayers' money.  They then complain that populists are becoming more and more popular...

Via NGO Monitor (Gerald Steinberg):

Letter to MEPs Concerning PFLP Event at the European Parliament 

Olga Deutsch, September 26, 2017 

Dear Mr. President of the European Parliament, 

As the distinguished President of the European Parliament, we wish to bring to your attention a highly disturbing event, “The Role of Women in the Palestinian Popular Struggle,” scheduled to take place this evening (September 26, 2017) in the European Parliament in Brussels. The event is organized by MEPs from the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group and Unadikum – International Solidarity Association. 

Scheduled speakers include Leila Khaled, whose affiliation is listed as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Sahar Francis, director of a Palestinian NGO known as “Addameer” (see below for poster advertising the event). 

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a terror organization, responsible for hijackings, suicide bombings, and assassinations. It is designated as such by the EU (including in the latest Council update dated August 4, 2017), as well as by the United States, Canada, and Israel, among others. We note the following connections between the event’s speakers/organizers and the PFLP terror organization:

• Leila Khaled is a “prominent member of the PFLP,” and is a terrorist responsible for hijacking multiple airplanes. 

• Addameer is an “affiliate” of the PFLP. Addameer’s chairperson and co-founder, vice-chairperson, as well as researchers and board members have been convicted, arrested, and/or banned from travel due to their ties to the PFLP.

• In December 2014, Unadikum, participated in a gala event to raise donations for the Union of Health Workers Committee (UHWC), a PFLP-affiliated health committee active in Gaza (as identified by USAID and in Palestinian documents).

It is outrageous that the European Parliament is giving a platform to a terrorist and her organization, and that these affiliations are being openly advertised. NGO Monitor strongly condemns any parliament group hosting internationally recognized terrorists as well as civil society organizations (CSOs) with ties to terror organizations. 

This event is part of a pattern of European governmental endorsement of (and in some cases funding to) CSOs that legitimize violent attacks against civilians and incite violence. As shown in our research, these groups propagate historical distortions and omissions, but more dangerously manipulate the terminology of human rights and international law in order to justify violence against civilians by using terms like “popular resistance” and “popular struggle.”  

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Europe: 60 MEPs urge Federica Mogherini to marginalize financially and politically anti-Israel groups like BDS

This initiative comes shortly after, the European Parliament decided that terrorists like Leila Khaled would not be granted further access to the Parliament.

Via European Jewish Press:

In a letter, the cross party group of 60 [out of 751, less than 10 per cent, full list below] Members of the European Parliament urged Federica Mogherini to marginalize, both financially and politically organizations such as BDS that are increasingly becoming a virulent source in the spread of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism under the pretense of exercising freedom of speech and association. 

The move is spearheaded by representatives of the four major political groups, MEP Cristian Dan Preda, MEP Ioan Mircea Pascu (S&D, Romania) and a Vice-President of the  European Parliament, MEP Petras Austrevicius (ALDE, Lithuania), MEP Arne Gericke (ECR, Germany). 

It “calls upon ensuring that no public funds go to organizations calling for a boycott of the State of Israel, and to instruct agencies not to engage with companies, organizations or other entities involved with the BDS movement”. 

MEP Cristian Dan Preda, foreign affairs coordinator for the largest political group, the European People’s Party, and co-initiator of the letter underlined  his party’s  opposition to calls for the suspension of the bilateral agreements with Israel  as some of his extreme left wing colleagues echo directly from the BDS playbook.   “It’s in the interest of this House, and of our citizens, to see an upgrade in the partnership agreement with Israel. We should not allow the current stalemate in the peace process to dictate the terms of our relationship with Israel.” 

Swedish MEP and President of Europe Israel Public Affairs (EIPA) political Board Lars Adaktusson - a co- signatory - underlined that “the Union, and the Parliament, is in danger of being deemed irrelevant as a peace broker if it fails to address the incitement on its own soil against Israel.”  

Vice President of the European Parliament, Ioan Mircea Pascu indicated that boycotting strategic ties with Israel, a leader in the international intelligence and defence community, may prove counterproductive to the common security interests of both, EU and Israel. 

The 60 signatories, among which are Chair of Security and Defence, MEP Anna Fotyga (ECR, Poland), Vice-Preident Pavel Telicka (ALDE, Czech Republic), Dietmar Koster (S&D, Germany), Vice-Chair of Human Rights Beatriz Becerra (ALDE, Spain) urged their Foreign Affairs chief to “address the incitement to hatred and violence and discriminatory practice of calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against the State of Israel.”

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MEPs who signed the letter:
MEP Cristian Preda
MEP Ioan Mircea Pascu
MEP Lars Adaktusson
MEP Arne Gericke
MEP Petras Auštrevičius
MEP Fulvio Martusciello
MEP Niedermüller Péter
MEP Marijana Petir
MEP Ramon Tremosa Balcells
MEP Maria Grapini 
MEP Traian Ungureanu
MEP Beatriz Becerra
MEP Alojz Peterle
MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White
MEP Inese Vaidere
MEP Milan Zver
MEP Anna Fotyga - Biuro Poselskie
MEP Renate Weber
MEP Frédérique Ries
MEP Geoffrey Van Orden
MEP Ramona Manescu
MEP Hannu Takkula
MEP Tunne Kelam MEP
MEP Daciana Sârbu
MEP John Flack MEP
MEP Miltos Kyrkos
MEP Julia Pitera
MEP Artis Pabriks
MEP Iuliu Winkler
MEP Adina Ioana VALEAN
MEP Dietmar Köster
MEP Olga Sehnalová, oficiální stránka
MEP Anna Zaborska
MEP Christofer Fjellner 
MEP Heinz K. Becker
MEP Jan Zahradil - oficiální stránka lídra ODS pro volby do EP
MEP Patricia Lalonde
MEP Alberto Cirio
MEP José Inácio Faria
MEP Miroslav Mikolášik
MEP Elisabetta Gardini
MEP Salvo Pogliese
MEP Alessandra Mussolini
MEP BARBARA MATERA
MEP Massimiliano Salini
MEP Gunnar Hökmark
MEP Branislav Škripek
MEP Rupert Matthews MEP
MEP Stefano Maullu
MEP Aldo Patriciello
MEP Светослав Малинов / Svetoslav Malinov
MEP Pavel Telička
MEP Iveta Grigule
MEP Charles Goerens
MEP Laima Andrikienė
MEP György Hölvényi
MEP Monika Beňová
MEP Esteban González Pons
MEP Viorica Dancila
MEP Andi Cristea
Source: EIPA (Europe Israel Public Affairs) here and here

FRANCE 24 revisits Sabra & Shatilla but misses Lebanon

Five Minutes for Israel reports: (H/T Elder of Ziyon)

Lebanon has had no shortage of massacres in its brief modern history. Sabra and Shatilla was only one of them but the Jews were involved, however indirectly, so it is no surprise that France 24 focusses on it. They revisit – Five Minutes for Israel visits their revisit.

Thirty-four-years after men of the Phalangist militia  staged a massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla Palestinian refugee Camps France 24 visits the camps, which now host a third generation of refugee children. Stuart Norval whose journalistic experience comes from the BBC, (never a good omen), presents a report by Antoine Laurent.

Why present now and not September is unclear. Perhaps that is just as well.

So how did they do?

Lebanon is not the only Arab country that openly enforces Apartheid laws against Palestinians. What is disturbing about the Apartheid laws in Lebanon and the mistreatment of Palestinians by Arab countries is the silence of the media, the international community and human rights groups — even UNRWA, which is supposed to look after the well-being of Palestinian refugees.     — Khaled Abu Toameh

Surprisingly, the report, in most parts a feel-good exercise, is not too terrible. France 24 gains major points for noting what so much of the media and Israel Haters tend to avoid, that it was local Christian not Israeli forces responsible for the massacre. However an uninformed viewer might conclude that there was a united Christian force not uncoordinated and often mutually hostile militias, who bore responsibility. The report, to its credit, also acknowledges that there is a great discrepancy over the number of victims instead of just blindly quoting dubious Palestinian figures.

There are some debatable points. The background to the war is very sketchy. The viewer would never know that a multifaceted civil war was raging at the time and that Israel and the Palestinians were just two players, and not the most important of many.

Similarly, if the ‘International Community’ (whoever that might be) was supposed to protect the Palestinians why did no one step up? Indeed, as a what-if exercise, one must wonder what would have happened in Sabra and Shatilla if the Palestinian fighters had tried to make a stand in the camps?

Yet something really important is missing

It is not, as you might expect Israel, which withdrew from Beirut in 1982. Israel is usually the designated villain but mention is minimal.

Nor is it the 1985 heavy fighting that erupted between the Amal Movement and Palestinian camp militias for the control of Sabra and Shatila and  Bourj el-Barajneh camps. This reduced virtually all the houses in the camps to rubble.

Lebanon, the state whose laws most directly dominate the lives of the camp, is completely ignored in this report.

When one teacher claims that he doesn’t want to leave the camp he doesn’t note that Lebanese law makes it difficult and often near impossible to leave. To leave the country he would have to receive both a, difficult for Palestinian refugees to acquire, exit visa from Lebanon and an equally difficult to acquire entry visa to some other country. Even moving to a better location outside the camp is problematic. Palestine refugees are prevented from legally acquiring, transferring or inheriting real property in Lebanon and rents are outside the reach of most. 

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